Crystal Growth and Structure of Novel Tolane Nonlinear Optical Materials

A novel tolane 4-methoxy-4'-nitro-diphenyl-acetylene (MONA) has been prepared quantitatively by reacting cuprous p-methoxy phenyl-acetylene with p-iodonitrobenzene. A single crystal of the Moan was grown by solution growth method. The crystal was then characterized by X-ray diffraction structure analysis and second-harmonic generation(SHG)investigation. Polymorphous crystal forms of the MONA were grown from different solvents having different nonlinear optical properties depending on their different crystal structures. The relationship between the crystal growth and crystal structure is discusse.

Recent Developments in Functional Crystals in China

Functional crystals are the basic materials for the development of modern science and technology and are playing key roles in the modern information era. In this paper, we review functional crystals in China, including research history, significant achievements, and important applications by highlighting the most recent progress in research. Challenges for the development of functional materials are discussed and possible directions for development are proposed by focusing on potential strengths of these materials.

Thermal and Transmission Properties of UV Nonlinear Optical Material——ZnCd(SCN)_4 Crystal

zinc cadmium thiocyanate (ZCTC), ZnCd(SCN)_4, has been discoveredas a UV second-order nonlinear optical coordination crystal. Titsthermal and transmission Properties are reported. The thermaldecomposition is characterized by using the X-ray Powder diffraction(XRPD) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy at room temperature. TheAbsorptions of intrinsic ions and ZCTC in a solution state arediscussed as well as Transmission properties of the ZCTC crystal. Aneffective method of reducing the surface Reflection loss of ZCTCcrystal is introduced.

Generation of femtosecond laser pulses at 263 nm by K_3B_6O_(10)Cl crystal

The third harmonic generation（THG） of a linear cavity Ti：sapphire regenerative amplifier by use of a K3B6O（10）Cl（KBOC） crystal is studied for the first time. Output power up to 5.9 mW is obtained at a central wavelength of 263 nm,corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 4.5% to the second harmonic power. Our results show a tremendous potential for nonlinear frequency conversion into the deep ultraviolet range with the new crystal and the output laser power can be further improved.

Generation of femtosecond laser pulses at 396 nm in K_3B_6O_(10)Cl crystal

K3B6O10Cl （KBOC）, a new nonlinear optical crystal, shows potential advantages for the generation of deep ultraviolet （UV） light compared with other borate crystals. In this paper we study for the first time the second harmonic generation （SHG） of a femtosecond Ti：sapphire amplifier with this crystal. Laser power is obtained to be as high as 220 mW at the central wavelength of 396 nm with a 1-mm-long crystal, and the maximum SHG conversion efficiency reaches 39.3%. The typical pulse duration is 83 fs, The results show that second harmonic （SH） conversion efficiency has the room to be further improved and that the new nonlinear crystal is very suited to generate the high efficiency deep ultraviolet laser radiation below 266 nm.

Optical and defect properties of S-doped and Al-doped GaSe crystals

S-doped and Al-doped GaSe crystals are promising materials for their applications in nonlinear frequency conversion devices. The optical and defect properties of pure, S-doped, and Al-doped GaSe crystals were studied by using photoluminescence（PL） and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FT-IR）. The micro-topography of（0001） face of these samples was observed by using scanning electron microscope（SEM） to investigate the influence of the doped defects on the intralayer and interlayer chemical bondings. The doped S or Al atoms form the SSe^0 or AlGa^＋1） substitutional defects in the layer GaSe structure, and the positive center of AlGa-^＋1 could induce defect complexes. The incorporations of S and Al atoms can change the optical and mechanical properties of the GaSe crystal by influencing the chemical bonding of the layer structure. The study results may provide guidance for the crystal growth and further applications of S-doped and Al-doped GaSe crystals.

Synthesis,Crystal Structure,and Optical Property of Zero-dimensional Quaternary Thioborate：Ba9B3GaS15

A new zero-dimensional（0D） thioborate Ba_9B_3GaS_（15） has been discovered by conventional high-temperature solid-state reaction. The compound crystallizes in orthorhombic space group Pbca with a = 8.4759（8）,b = 22.266（2）,c = 31.426（3） ？,V = 5931（2） ？~3,Z = 8,Mr = 1819.11,Dc = 4.075 g/cm3,μ = 13.684 mm^（-1）,F（000） = 6320,S = 1.034,（Δρ）max = 5.039,（Δρ）min = –5.409 e/？~3,the final R = 0.0362 and w R = 0.1053 for 19243 observed reflections with I 〉 2σ（I）. The structure is constructed by discrete [BS_3]^（3–） trigonal planes and isolated [GaS_4]^（5–） tetrahedra with Ba^（2＋） and isolated S^（2–） filled among them. The UV-Vis-near-IR spectrum reveals a wide band gap of 3.15 eV that agrees with the electronic structure calculation.

Configuration optimization of laser guide stars and wavefront correctors for multi-conjugation adaptive optics

Multi-conjugation adaptive optics（MCAOs） have been investigated and used in the large aperture optical telescopes for high-resolution imaging with large field of view（FOV）.The atmospheric tomographic phase reconstruction and projection of three-dimensional turbulence volume onto wavefront correctors,such as deformable mirrors（DMs） or liquid crystal wavefront correctors（LCWCs）,is a very important step in the data processing of an MCAO＇s controller.In this paper,a method according to the wavefront reconstruction performance of MCAO is presented to evaluate the optimized configuration of multi laser guide stars（LGSs） and the reasonable conjugation heights of LCWCs.Analytical formulations are derived for the different configurations and are used to generate optimized parameters for MCAO.Several examples are given to demonstrate our LGSs configuration optimization method.Compared with traditional methods,our method has minimum wavefront tomographic error,which will be helpful to get higher imaging resolution at large FOV in MCAO.

Gamma-radiation effects in pure-silica-core photonic crystal fiber

We investigated the steady state gamma-ray radiation response of pure-silica-core photonic crystal fibers（PSC-PCFs）under an accumulated dose of 500 Gy and a dose rate of 2.38 Gy/min. The radiation-induced attenuation（RIA） spectra in the near-infrared region from 800 nm to 1700 nm were obtained. We find that the RIA at 1550 nm is related with hydroxyl（OH^-） absorption defects in addition to the identified self-trapped hole（STH） defects. Moreover, it is proposed and demonstrated that reduced OH^-absorption defects can decrease the RIA at 1550 nm. The RIA at 1550 nm has effectively declined from 27.7 d B/km to 3.0 dB/km through fabrication improvement. Preliminary explanations based on the unique fabrication processes were given to interpret the RIA characteristics of PSC-PCFs. The results show that the PSC-PCFs,which offer great advantages over conventional fibers, are promising and applicable to fiber sensors in harsh environments.

Synthesis,Crystal Structure,Physical Properties and Theoretical Studies of the New Ternary Sulfide with Closed Cavities:CsYb_7S_(11)

A novel ternary rare-earth sulfide, CsYb7S（11）, has been successfully synthesized by high-temperature solid-state reaction of an elemental mixture with modified Cs Cl flux. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction data reveal its orthorhombic symmetry in space group Cmca（no. 64） with a = 15.271（3）, b = 13.414（2）, c = 18.869（3） A°, V = 3865.2（2） A°^3, Z = 8, Mr = 1696.85, Dc = 5.832 g/cm^3, μ = 36.538 mm^-1, F（000） = 5768, the final R = 0.0225 and w R = 0.0517 for 2258 observed reflections with I 〉 2σ（I）, 2.67〈θ〈27.48o, w = 1/[σ^2（Fo^2） ＋（0.0443 P）2 ＋ 8.7453 P], where P =（Fo^2 ＋ 2Fc^2）/3, S = 1.036,（Δρ）max = 1.609 and（Δρ）min = –1.922. The remarkable structural feature is the dual tricapped Cs2@S18 cube closed cavities far apart within the three-dimensional [Yb7S（11）]-covalent bonding matrix. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show that the title compound exhibits temperature-dependent（50～300 K） para-magnetism and obey the Curie-Weiss law. Moreover, the optical gap of 2.03 Ev for CsYb7S11 was deduced from the UV/Vis reflectance spectroscopy and DFT study indicates an indirect band gap with an electronic transfer excitation of S-3p to Yb-5d orbital.

Research progress of cholesteric liquid crystals with broadband reflection characteristics in application of intelligent optical modulation materials

Cholesteric liquid crystals（CLCs） have recently sparked an enormous amount of interest in the development of soft matter materials due to their unique ability to self-organize into a helical supra-molecular architecture and their excellent selective reflection of light based on the Bragg relationship.Nowadays,by the virtue of building the self-organized nanostructures with pitch gradient or non-uniform pitch distribution,extensive work has already been performed to obtain CLC films with a broad reflection band.Based on authors＇ many years＇ research experience,this critical review systematically summarizes the physical and optical background of the CLCs with broadband reflection characteristics,methods to obtain broadband reflection of CLCs,as well as the application in the field of intelligent optical modulation materials.Combined with the research status and the advantages in the field,the important basic and applied scientific problems in the research direction are also introduced.

Influence of Metallic Substitutions on the Optical and Mechanical Properties of NLO Benzoyl Glycine Crystals

Benzoyl glycine （BG） is a promising organic nonlinear optical （NLO） crystal, whose second harmonic generation （SHG） efficiency is much higher than that of KDP （potassium dihydrogen phosphate）. Single crystals of pure, Cu2＋ and Cd2＋ doped BG were grown by slow evaporation technique. Optically transparent and defect free single crystals of size up to 10 mm×15 mm×10 mm were harvested in a period of 40-60 days. The growth conditions of pure and doped crystals of BG were optimized and the grown crystals were confirmed by single crystal XRD （X-ray diffraction）. The grown crystals were characterized by FTIR （Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy）, optical absorption and microhardness studies. The microhardness studies confirm that BG has a moderate VHN （Vickers hardness number） value in comparison to the.other organic NLO crystals. The efficiency of frequency doubling was measured for the using Nd：YAG laser and the results were discussed.

ORGANIC NONLINEAR OPTICAL CRYSTAL:N-(4-NITROPHENYL)-(s)-(+)-2-PYRROLIDINEMETHYLENE TOSYLATE(NPP-OTs)

Large crystal NPP-OTs has been obtained by growth from solution,its powder SHG efficiency is 1/3 of urea.It shows it is a new convenient approach to obtain organic second-order NLO crystal:the dipole-dipole interaction is oppos- ed by introducing a large side group.

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Optical Switches

The dynamic response of molecular orientation, and the temperature and pulse shape dependences of the switching behavior in ferroelectric liquid crystal are described. The switching speed and the surface energy of ferroelectric liquid crystal are given.

β-BaB_(2)O_(4) with special cut-angle applied to single crystal cascaded third-harmonic generation

High-efficiency single crystal cascaded third-harmonic generation(THG)was realized inβ-BaB_(2)O_(4)(BBO)material with special cut-angle.By analyzing effective nonlinear optical coefficient(d_(eff))of the cascaded THG process,which was composed by type-II frequency doubling and type-I sum-frequency,the optimum phase matching(PM)direction in BBO crystal was determined to be(θ=32.1°,φ=11°).With an optimized 9-mm long sample which was processed along this direction,the highest cascaded THG conversion efficiency reached 42.3%,which is much superior to the similar components reported previously,including ADP,KDP,and Gd_(x)Y_(1-x)COB crystals.

New Complex Nonlinear optical Crystal-Bis(4-methoxybenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone) Zinc Chloride(ZnL_2Cl_2)

The structure of ZnL2Cl2 (L=4-methoxybenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone) has beenobtained by x-ray diffraction. The compound crystallized in space group Cc with Z=4, in a unit cellof dimensions, a=9.08909(10), b=22. l420(10), c=11 .7890(l0)A,β=90.050(10)°, v=2374.6(12)A3,Dc=1 .552gcm-3. H=1 .463mm-1. R=0.0338. and Rw=0.0418. The structure contains individualZnL2Cl2 distorted tetrahedral units in which L molecules are S-bonded as monodentate to the metalions; chloride ions are also coordinated. The nonlinear optical properties of the zinc complex arealso presented in this letter.

Raman Spectra and Crystallographic Properties of a New NLO Material,ZnCd(SCN)_4 Crystal

The crystallographic properties and R aman spectra of the title compound ZnCd(SCN) 4, which is a new nonlinear optica l crystal(NLO), are reported for the first time. This crystal is orthorhombic and its space group is I - 4 with unit cell parameters a =1.113 5(0.2) nm, c =0.437 60(1) nm. There are two formulas per unit cell. Raman spectra of zinc cadmium thiocyanatec (ZCTC) are given and the electron activities in the crystal are shown.

A high precision phase reconstruction algorithm for multi-laser guide stars adaptive optics

Adaptive optics（AO） systems are widespread and considered as an essential part of any large aperture telescope for obtaining a high resolution imaging at present.To enlarge the imaging field of view（FOV）,multi-laser guide stars（LGSs） are currently being investigated and used for the large aperture optical telescopes.LGS measurement is necessary and pivotal to obtain the cumulative phase distortion along a target in the multi-LGSs AO system.We propose a high precision phase reconstruction algorithm to estimate the phase for a target with an uncertain turbulence profile based on the interpolation.By comparing with the conventional average method,the proposed method reduces the root mean square（RMS） error from 130 nm to 85 nm with a 30% reduction for narrow FOV.We confirm that such phase reconstruction algorithm is validated for both narrow field AO and wide field AO.

Tunable Optical Filters Based on Different Configurations with Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

Optical filters with different configurations based on cholesteric liquid crystals （CLCs） are designed. The central wavelength from CLCs can be tuned by the electric field or temperature. For the electric field tuning, the ITO is designed with circular patterns, which can make the tunable range 18 nm. For the temperature tuning, two-layer- CLC configurations are used. The experimental results indicate that a deepened or broadened bandgap from the CLC can be achieved by different handedness or concentrations of chiral dopants. The spectrum study is carried out.

Physical and Chemical Properties of GdN: A Critical Comparison between Single Crystals and Thin Films, Theory and Experiment

Since about 10 years, there is a controversy about physics and chemistry of GdN between stoichiometric (tested) large single crystals and off-stoichiometric thin films. GdN single crystals are anti-ferromagnetic for applied magnetic fields of only 10 Oe, become ferromagnetic for excess electrons and larger magnetic fields. They are semimetallic. Thin films are ferromagnetic and semiconductors. Over the time, many experiments have been performed on both systems and the physics in each system is consistent. Band structure computations either yield ferromagnetic semimetals or ferromagnetic semiconducting thin films. There seems to be two incompatible worlds, those of single crystals and those of thin films. In the present work, the author compares directly the various measurements and calculations and gives reasons for their different results.